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Recently I was asked by a friend for a photo collage tech tool that does not require students to create accounts or logins. Collage or sometime known as a pictograph are often used by students or teachers to create a poster that sends a message through images. There are many tools out there for one to choose from; but the technology at hand will mostly determine which site or app may work in your classroom. For school use, I found picmonkey to be a very simple web tool that does not require software download or a login. If you plan to use the site often you have the option to create a free account and save your work within the site. To use picmonkey, simply visit the site and then select free trial to build a photo collage. Your design tools are located on the left side of the page. there you can choose your collage layout, design and colors. Above the collage is your sharing tools or your option to download the collage to your own device. The tools is very simple to use and here is an example pictured below. I have also used photo collage to combine images to create collage and posters. A drag and drop web tool, photo collage works with no installation requirements. Simply visit the page and use the available tools to drag images and organize them within your work space. When done, your new image can be downloaded to your device in various formats. I must remind teachers and students alike to be mindful of copyrights when combining images and photos obtained from non common attribution sources. Collage or Infographics using Google Drawing from G suiteIf your students have access to the Google Apps for education, I recommend Google Drawings as a collage tool which can also be enhanced to an infographic as well. In Google Drawings you can combine word art, text, images, shapes, and lines. With Google Drawings students can design their own logo for a club, project or idea. I have created my webpage logo throughout this page using Google Drawings.
If your school has deployed Chromebooks but you haven't used Google Classroom, it is the right time to start. The new features recently added bring Google Classroom a bit closer to an LMS (Learning Management System) than ever before. Now, you can organize your Stream assignments, or announcements by selecting and adding specific topics. With the new topics feature, students and teachers alike can sort the stream by topics, making it easier to sort through the list of assignments posted weekly. Once selecting a topic, only assignment or announcements related to the topic will appear in the stream.
Even though Google's team has added the parent invitation feature, most schools tech admins will not open that feature for their teachers. You can go around this by making your Google Classroom calendar public. To do that go the ABOUT tab in google classroom and click on the google calendar link and change the calendar setting to public. Once calendar for your classroom is public, parents can view posts and stay up to date with classroom posts, and assignments. Keep in mind, parents will not be able to view student work but only titles of posts in your google classrooms and due dates. Eager to start a forum or discussion with your class about a topic or concept they just learned? Then turn on the option for students to create posts or comment on posts, now you can create a live classroom discussion forum. Welcome back to a new school year!
With the increase of online learning material on the web, teachers often seek the online world, looking for quality teaching material to use with their students. Quite often we face the dilemma of having to create multiple students accounts. It is most critical for educators to consult with district Instructional Technology personnel to inquire about safe sites for students of certain age group. Teachers should find out how COPPA regulations are being implemented within their district. Most important for teachers is to know when it is necessary to request parental consent for using an online educational site. In my district, we ask parents to sign a consent each year permitting the use of online educational sites and accessing the internet within district firewall and secured network. And therefore; the rule of thumb is that if a learning site does not require more than student's name, (which can be an alias name), school/district generated email, and birthday, then there is no need to ask for additional parental consent. Tips for teachers:
Here's to a better start of your school year! Digital Reading Material For Classrooms![]() Educators are often hunting for reading resources and access to reading material. Open source/ free interactive Digital Reading material with built in comprehension questions are usually rare to find. Recently, I've come across some unique reading resources for any classroom. Read Theory and Schoolwide Zing are organizations providing free/open access to reading material. Educators can create a free account, set up a class, invite or add students to get them reading. A School wide account and access will require subscription with a reasonable cost. Read Theory is an interactive reading site that provides students with reading selections followed by comprehension questions. During their first login, students are prompted to take a pretest and then placed based on their performance. Students then are provided with reading selections that match their reading comprehension abilities. You might want to consider this free resource for your gifted students, students who need extra practice in building comprehension. Teachers may also choose to assign all their students into a class to get them reading. Articles are leveled using the Fountas and Pinnell leveling system. SchoolWide Zing Another open access interactive reading site. Teachers can create a free account, add books to library, then add students. Educators are provided with an access code to share with students who can in return login and access books added by their teacher. teachers can also create collections, add books to their collection. To assign specific books to students, teachers have the option to subscribe for a $10 per year membership. With the student user version, Students read books shared by teachers. As they read, they can take notes, answer reading responses, multiple choice questions or write reviews about a book they read. Teacher can monitor student progress as well through the “manage students” user menu option. Books are leveled using the Fountas and Pinnell leveling system. |
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